MORECAMBE turned up the heat and got with the Latino beat when Worldbeat came to town.

Hips swung and the hummus flowed as crowds at the three-day festival got to grips with a mish-mash of global sounds, sights and flavours.

From chilled out Reggae to sexy Salsa, Worldbeat Weekend 2001 kept the sounds coming day and night over three consecutive days - and the rum-fuelled crowd kept the faith with plenty of enthusiastic dance-floor action.

Outside, performers sang beneath blue skies and the candy-floss scent of the seaside was infused with the aroma of Mexican chillies and falafel from the global village food fair.

Some of the star players at the event, largely staged at Morecambe's Platform, included Zairean rumba beat man Mose Fan Fan and Kingston born Junior Delgado, who has earned a reputation as one of the most uncompromising and passionate reggae artists on the scene.

But it was the Cuban-inspired Sonora La Calle and Quinteto Son La Loma that had the Salsa-pros coming out of the woodwork and putting on their own impromptu floorshow.

Lesser mortals jigged along beside them, wide-eyed with envy and silently vowing to sign up for dance classes.

The biggest crowd-puller was the Big Chill in Morecambe - a multimedia set up of live bands, DJs and videos which rumbled on 'til 4am, featuring artists such as Pete Lawrence DJ, Kinobe and Shur-I-Kan live.

Worldbeat has found a welcome home in the seaside town.